A new brand is turning a family tradition into a clothing favorite, made entirely with cotton from the Lone Star State.
Brady Raindl is the co-creator of Cotton Row Clothier. He’s a cotton trader by day and started the clothing line out of his love for cotton.
“My family grew cotton, so I’ve been in fields all my life,” Raindl says. “Cotton has touched me in some form or fashion.”
His love for the land—and love for the fiber—started at birth, as he grew up in the middle of a 4-million-acre cotton patch in West Texas. His passion was sparked by a statement from a person passing through. The man was looking for a shirt to wear to the Texas Tech football game and he couldn’t find any made from cotton.
“I told my wife ‘Gosh, we’re in cotton, I’m going to support the industry that I’m in.’”
With that simple statement, he became a man on a mission.
“We started doing some research to try to figure out how we could somehow make shirts from a product we grow,” he says.
It’s a dream years in the making; a dream the Raindl family is living out to the fullest.
“Our goal is not necessarily to promote just individual farmers, it’s Texas as a whole,” he says.
Cotton Row Clothier started with a single shirt in 2017, and today, it’s seeing solid growth. The brand is still taking off, but something the Raindls continue to do as a family is share the Lone Star State story.
“Whether it’s food or fiber, they like to know the story behind what they’re buying, and so we are able to provide that,” Raindl says.
Whitney Madison and her husband started a store in Texas a few years ago called “Fly Wild Outfitters.” The store features local brands, such as Cotton Row Clothier, on their shelves.
“We were really excited to have someone new; it was something different,” Madison says. “To have something that’s different, and to support a brand that not only designs their own clothes but the cotton actually comes from this area, is a great achievement.”
The excitement started with one dream; a dream Raindl says wouldn’t have come to fruition without his wife, who was already busy helping raise their twin boys.
“It’s always funny when I ask the boys if this is good or bad cotton, and if it’s small and it doesn’t look good, they say ‘that’s bad cotton,’ but if it’s good cotton, they’re like ‘oh, that’s for Cotton Row,” Raindl says. “They think we buy every single field that looks good.”
The Raindls continue to make a gift out of their love for Texas; it’s the passion to help tell cotton’s story that’s helping sell the shirts.
“Whether it’s food or fiber, consumers want to know the story behind what they’re buying. We are able to provide that,” he says.
To learn more about the Raindl family and their cotton clothing line, visit bit.ly/Cotton-Row-Clothier
